New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-06-27
NEW PUBLICATIONS
wu.r CAN BE DONE WITH sEwAGEi

WHAT CAN BE DUNE VIII oE"Ao11
rHE TREATMENT AND UTILIZATION OF sEWAG f.
vvI.sd By tie sut6or and Louis G Parfes. NJ D.
Ss ru Sssw hssasS c. 1887 s1o n pp pfi
=. IL ot Al many wears since civilized society awoKc
10 the necessity Of making some systemstio o'spoo
Of its own material waste There came . tihe "n."
the senses revoted against the onensiVenees VI INV
refuse deposited in any convenient place so!~00' ~
human habtations, and then some effort was maae "
40 n usu.uv I'm sucb way that 1t poisoned Wells
polluted streams and filed the air with germs OF aus
easo The sanitary aspects Ut the question were .ho
made prominent. 1t was the pubic he@'h ra.hoi ''o
Che public comfort that was consiaefed' anu 'no s
ti6c Journals terrified all readers with accounts Oh aea
iy gases pathogenic organisms, ana entozo@ nv '~'
certain economic phases Of the problem became mat
ters OF popular discussion, mainly through tho Gutter
ing rhetoric Of Victor Hugo he portrayed the stor
fertility of continents pouring through city sewers o
the sea Chemists even Of the rank OF Leos iha4'o
calculations Of a time coming whom tho farm i@' u
the world despocd to sterility by these drains "po
their productive richness, would fal W SuPPo'. INC
race Considerations Of this sort led to the estaosn
,osnt ~ sewage farms, where nsmeess filth was to
no transformed into flowers and fruits and fooo anu
absolute loss converted into profitable crops
These experiments in irrigation have demonstrated
that the waters flowing from under great CIT! a".
freiehted with all its waste may reappear as inp"
stream after filtration through the purifying car'h'
Where this result can DO reACnou VIII iO"00"-'O -
pense and the efluent water passes safely INTO
while no disease or discomfort is entaed upon
the inhabitants Of tho irrigated district the sewage
orobem Is settled. That the roots " crops az wen
as mcrOdemcs that live in and upon the sos @sSis'
the earth aud air In tho purifying process tnere 10
abundant proof The use Of vegetation is uereioro
justified although the lament over lost fertility IS
purely sentimental. Tons OF plantfood are washou
into the sea through city sewers every year. But IL
nv Professor Anderson tnat
wherever domestic fires fed with soft coal enormous
quantities of ammonia escape into the air through CITY
chimneys and 1t would DO quito as reasonable W OK
meet farmers to ferze their lands with smoke AZ Win
sewage 1t Is excessive dlution that prevents the
use of either Estimates of the value Of fertzing mat
ter lost In cities met by FOrbes, the geoioslst
with the illustration that barrel of water into "hcn
a bottle Of brandy had been poured was hardly worm
rs much as the brandy. although most OF the acohoi
could be recovered by dlstlation Professor storer
In his recent work agriculture, enforces TINS vie"
by recalling tho experiments of Eckfedt and Dupos,
which proved that there was nearly pound Oh goiu
TO every million pounds Of clay in the extensive peos
under the paved portion of Philadelphia, 50 that In
every CARLOAD Of clay hauled out in excavang cellars
there Is concealed enough gold to pay for cartne'
II the bricks that front the houses In that city couu
have their contents Of gold brought to the surface In
the form Of gold leaf there would be gtterng patch
of two square inches upon every brick thousand
million dollars In gOlu lies III inc cray va
porate limits Of Pbladelphabut one thinks OF eoid
mining under the pavements. In the same way, al
though the value of the plant passing through the
sewers Of London may amount to $S,oooooo Ut
600 900 per annum each ton Of sewage worth no
more than pence, and In this country where water
is more freely used ton would contain scant cents
worth of fertzng material If this Is called waste
It should be remembered that the nitric acid equiv
scnt Of LOO tons Of satpctre flows through the delta
of tho Nile every day, and that the discharge OF phos
phorc acid by all the Of the world in century
would not equal what is thrown into the sea { n
rivers In twenty four hours.
This volume which appears now in a third edition,
after two revsons have Incorporated the more recent
discoveries and theories will BIO found OF value TO
every one interested in sanitary drainage even on
small scale and the accounts of the condition Of many
English towns some twenty years ago can be trusted
to furnish new sensation and not agreeable "1e
to any reader who has not been made familiar by
previous study with the Ingenious methods devised
BY civilized for the protection aud propagation
Of plaques and fevers